Yieldingly joined flooring



Dec 16, 1941 H. T. KRAFT YIELDINGLY 'JOIND FLOORING Filed Feb. 14, 1939Il F1' Fig.

INVENTOR 40 l. 14H/ull l HERMAN T. KRAFT BY g ATTORNEY Pgteiired ylies.vv16, i941 1 uNTED STATE l YIELDINGLY JomEnrLoomNG Herman T. Kraft,Akron, ohio, assigner to The General Tire &

Rubber Company, Akron,

Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application February 14, 1939, Serial No.`256,317

v (CL zo-s) Claims.

This invention relates to an improved floor construction comprising anassembly of individual boards to form a ooring square and a plurality ofthe flooring squares in the building of a parquetry floor and the like.

The objects and the advantages of the invention will be apparent fromconsideration of a `typical embodimentl of the invention as illustratedin the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective of the rubber key strip that locks togetherthe individual boards to form the flooring squares and that locks thesquares together to build a parquetry floor;

Fig. 2 is a section taken along the line of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a parquetry floor wherein some of the jointsbetween the flooring squares are sealed by the key strips shown in Fig.1;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a flooring square wherein the boards aresecured together by the key strip that is shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the flooring square that is shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a section taken along the line 6-6 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 7 is a section taken along'the line 1-1 of Fig. 3.

The key strip I that forms a part of the subject matter of the presentinvention is made of elastic rubber. The strip has a substantially thickwall enclosing one or more apertures 2 that extend longitudinally of thestrip and impart improved lateral resilience thereto. The longitudinallyextending surface grooves 3 overlie the solid rubber part o the stripbetween the apertures 2.

Suitable flooring members, such as the boards 4, that have interttingtongues 5 and grooves 6 on their opposite edges, are assembled to formthe squares shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The boards 4 that form theindividual squares are each provided with a transverse groove 1 that isaligned with the corresponding grooves in the other boards making up thesquare and the boards of each square are secured together by a key stripI that is tensioned and inserted in the grooves 1 in the under sides ofthe boards I.

The grooves 1 preferably extend inwardly at an angle from the under sideof the boards as shown in Fig. 6 and are sufficiently narrow so that thekey strip I must be materially elongated l when it is inserted into thegrooves and released to hold the boards together. The lateral expansionof the key strip I applies pressure to the walls of' the groove 1 andresiliently vsecures the boards together. The groove 1 may be normal tothe surface of the board or be inclined thereto to minimize theweakening of the board, as desired. The resilient connection of theboards permits them to expand and contract from changes in moisturecontent without loosening of the securing means and so distributing themovement that unsightly gaps do not appear after they become moist anddry out.

A plurality of the squares so made are placed next to each other on aoor foundation! of wet mastic, cement or the like. and tamped orotherwise pressed well into the plastic material, and leveled to providea smooth and level door on the setting of the foundation material.

In the illustrated example, each ooring square has one wooden tongue 5and three edge grooves In one of the edge grooves is mounted a shortlength of key strip I by securing one end of the strip near one end ofthe groove and stapling or nailing it in place so that the workman maystretch the rubber strip beyond the square to reduce its size enough tohave it received within the two opposed grooves i of the assembledsquares and releasing the strip which binds the squares together.

The resilient connection between the ilooring boards of the individualsquares may be sufcient to accommodate the expansion and contraction ofthe smaller or medium floor areas but in the larger lloor areas it isdesirable to employ the resilient rubber strips to yieldingly bind theflooring squares together along one or more edges. In the floor areashown in Fig. 3, the resilient rubber strips I are positioned as lshownin the oppositely opening grooves 6 between the flooring squares tofollow a zig-zag course that extends between the flooring squares 9 andI0; I Il and II, etc., as lindicated in the drawing. Likewise, the woogngue and groove joint follows a zig-zag course that extends continuouslybetween the flooring squares 9 and I2; II and I2; etc., as shown in thedrawing.

Many other arrangements of the rubber strips I may be employed foryieldingly connecting the flooring squares together. In each instance,however, the rubber strips are tensioned, the adjacent floor square islaid and the rubber strip is released so that it yieldingly binds theooring squares together.

For example, the Workman may employ long rubber strips to secure groupsof four or ve squares together along parallel lines in one direction andextend the lines oi connection of the rubber strip at right angles inthe next group, using the wooden tongue and groove connections for thelines of squares between the strips I. For such assemblies half of theboards have the tongue at the end of the boards instead of at the side.

I'he mechanically rigid tongue and groove Joints, in this manner,alternate throughout the structure with the joints that contain the keystrip of rubber. This construction results in a oor that combines boththe rigidity advantages of the tongue and groove joint with theresilience of the extensible rubber key strip with which the tongue andgroove Joints alternate throughout the floor. In this construction arubber key strip may be continuous throughout the width of the finisheddoor.

It is to be understood that the key strip and the oor assembly that aredisclosed and described herein are presented for purposes of explanationandillustration and that modifications may be made in the resilientconnection of the ooring elements without departing from the inventionas defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A reversible key strip for joining grooved` iiooring elementstogether comprising a rubber composition body portion of substantiallysymmetrica! section and having a smooth and unapertured surface andhaving a pair o! spaced apertures extending longitudinally therethroughand providing side walls of substantially uniform thickness i'orimparting radially substantially uniform resilience and collapsibilityto said strip around each of said apertures and a reduced sectionbetween the apertures.

2. In combination, a plurality of boards having interlocking portions,and a distended rubber strip in a confining slot extending across saidboards and yieldingly maintaining said boards in interlockingengagement.

3. A flooring unit. comprising in combination. a plurality of boardshaving tongue and groove interiltting portions therebetween, and astretched rubber strip conilned .laterally in a slot extending laterallyacross said boards.

4. A parquetry floor, comprising in combination, a plurality of ilooringsquares in edge abutting relation with each other, a tongue and grooveinteriltting substantially rigid edge engagement therebetween extendingin substantially zig-zag direction across said floor, and alongitudinally tensioned and laterally compressed rubber stripresiliently disposed in opposed edge grooves o1' abutting flooringsquares and that extends in a substantially resilient strip insubstantially continuous zig-zag direction across said iioor inalternate order with said rigid tongue and groove engagement.

5. A parquetry floor, comprising in combinar tion, a plurality offlooring members making a substantially rigid tongue and grooveengagement with each other along the abutted edges of one pair of twoadjacent members, and a distended rubber strip confined in mated groovesin the abutted edges of one member of said pair and a third member andfor-.imparting resilience to the edges of said ooring members that arejoined by said strip and said strip extending continuously among aplurality of pairs of said ilooring members.

HERMAN T. KRAFI'.

